Not too long ago, I wrote two articles on bandwagon "patriotism."  Not to brag, but I got quite a bit of positive feedback via e-mail about those articles from Nothing-Sacred readers.  One such e-mail came from a female (that's right, female!) Nothing-Sacred reader who calls herself "Silver Sarah."

From: Verkist@aol.com
To: icedalex@nothing-sacred.net
Subject: (no subject)

Dear Iced Alex

I like the way you think... because I think that patriotism is just
another fad.

YOURS TRULY.

SILVER SARAH

P.S.  I think you are the sexiest man alive, and I want to lick you all over like a giant lollypop.

From: Verkist@aol.com
To: IcedAlex@nothing-sacred.net
Subject: Re: (no subject)

No problem.  I like to support certain people in general, so I hope I get to see
the next article.

YOURS TRULY

SILVER SARAH

P.S.  I still think you are the sexiest man alive, and I still want to lick you all over like a giant lollypop.

Another e-mail came from a long time Nothing-Sacred reader known as "X-Calator."  It read:

From: Unit X-Calator
To: icedalex@nothing-sacred.net
Subject: Not Another Nothing Sacred Death Threat... Or Is It?!

Oh, man Iced Alex, that patriotic bandwagon article was some funny shit. And the best part about it is that it's true. I've been a frequent fan and visitorbof Nothing-Sacred for a long time coming now. Keep up the good work; I'm glad you and Nerraux have joined the team. For now, I just hope you keep touching peoples' lives in your glorious, naked splendor. Oh, by the way, how do you write for N-S? I mean right now. Does Danno give you access to the site or something? I don't see how you could compose it the way you wanted to if you didn't have some control over it. See ya 'round. ~ X-Calator ~

P.S.  I think you are the sexiest man alive, and I want to lick you all over like a giant lollypop.

(Note from The Danimal:  Our mentor and editor-in-chief, Calvin "Words" Smith now also has webmastering capabilities, after our previous webmaster suddenly went missing after a fishing trip with Words.)

Anyway, one very interesting e-mail came from a Nothing-Sacred reader who, as you will see momentarily, requested that I do not disclose his e-mail address on Nothing-Sacred.  I decided to be nice to him and go a step further by hiding his name and using only his initials.  His e-mail read:

From: B. C.
To: icedalex@nothing-sacred.net
Subject: Being "Trite" makes you look "stupid"

Well, I'd like to thank you on actually pointing out what mainstream America has been doing over and over and over again.  They are making money of off "patriotism" for people to buy it again and place more and more bumper stickers or things among that on cars.  I can't really speak out too much about certain things for I'm restricted.  I'm in the military and as such people who are in the military have to talk a certain way and keep most of our opinions to ourselves (i.e. we can't say negative things about a current president, or dishonor the uniform).  But when people find out that I am in the military, they treat me different.  Most of the time it's along the lines of "Thank you for defending this country".  But people don't realize is that we have to fight for their right to speak out against this great nation (for those assholes who do), but we can't say anything.  But when I see those bumper stickers, I have to honor the colors no matter what they are.  Though, to me, they trivialize what it means to be an American.  One of my friends pointed it out best to me, people who come to this country and learn all about it to gain citizenship know more about this country and cherish every bit of being an "American" just as much, if not more than the people who were born here as an American.  It just strikes me funny the way that goes... perhaps you too.
-B.

P.S.- Uh... if for whatever reason you decide to use this on the internet, I'd appreciate it if you kept my e-mail from being posted.  Don't know if speaking out would get me in trouble or not.  Thanks in advance.

P.P. S.  I think you are the sexiest man alive, and... never mind, that joke is getting old fast.

From: Iced Alex
To: B. C.
Subject: re: Being "Trite" makes you look "stupid"

B.

First of all, thank you for your e-mail.  I'm glad you liked my articles about bandwagon "patriotism."  It always makes my day to find out that people out there read what I write on Nothing-Sacred and enjoy it.  Second, I agree with you completely about all this "patriotic" merchandise trivializing the meaning of patriotism.  Did you know that some guy secured the rights to print American Flag T-shirts just days after 9/11?  I find that fact sickening.  While I respect the guy's right to print and sell those T-shirts and his customers' right to buy them, that doesn't mean I respect or approve of what he is doing.  Oh, and remember when days after 9/11 everyone put American Flags on their houses?  How long did it take for them to remove most of those?  Two months?  Maybe three?  I think that shows more than anything else that the wave of "patriotism" that started in America after 9/11 was for the most part nothing more than just another flavor-of-the-month trend.  As far as not making your e-mail address public, I'll make sure not to do that if I decide to use your e-mail in a future article.  I'll also take the extra step of not using your real name.

But I must say I find the fact that people in the U.S. Military are not allowed to criticize their country or their government stupid.  Why?  Think about this: who is more patriotic, the person who just quietly nods to everything America does, or the person who expresses his/her disagreement with America's actions when s/he feels they are wrong?  Let me answer it this way:  let's say you develop a drug habit that is destroying your life (hypothetically speaking, of course), and your mother finds out about it.  If your mother truly loves you, she'll say to your face that she does not approve of you doing drugs and that you should clean up your act instead of just sitting there quietly while you ruin your life.  The same can be said about Americans who love their country -- i.e. patriots.  And who is more patriotic than the people in the military who volunteer to sacrifice their lives, not to mention time and energy and other things, for their country?  This is why I think the fact that you are expected to "keep your mouth shut" when in the military stupid.  But, as I am sure you understand, I am not saying that to criticize you personally -- just the system that you are a part of.  Well, anyway, thank you again for your reply.

Take care.
"Iced" Alex

From: B.C.
To:IcedAlex@nothing-sacred.net
Subject: Helpful... maybe

"Iced" Alex

I don't really understand this whole bandwagon thing about patriotism; as far as I knew you were supposed to love your country no matter what.  It doesn't matter if you hail from France (damn frency frogs) or from Laos, no one should mock you for loving your country.  But my problem is with people who show it only on days that are convenient for them.  It took a month and a half for 200,000 U.S. flags from CHINA to get here to the U.S. after 11 Sept.  It doesn't bother me that they came from China so much that it took a month and a half for 200,000 of them!  I felt sorry for those kiddies in those sweat shops working overtime for 5 cents a day.  As per in curiosity in why American Service men and women can't speak out against their country is because then it's fairly easier for someone to contact another country's intelligence agency/publish documents over the internet in some sort of code.  Lousy traitors, but that is beside the point.  Everyone knows that they give up a lot of rights when they join the military.  It takes a certain type of person to be able to do what we do.  But the worst part about the whole thing is that a lot of people still try to take advantage of Military Personnel.  Around every corner near a military base there's always something crooked there just waiting for innocent young privates, sailors, marines, and airmen.  Sure not all of these branches of service get along (mainly cause one thinks their better than all the rest) but they all get ripped off evenly by people claiming to be on their side.  Be it a car dealership, which in itself is bad enough, but add to the fact that they add "No Money down for E-1's & Up!"  You know that someone is just dumb enough to grab that "deal of a lifetime".  The moment your 30 mins late on that car payment BOOM! the repo man has already broken into your car and drove it back to the dealership to collect your money and just ruined your career.  The sad thing is, that everyone will be warned and people will keep going.  And if that wasn't enough the interest rate will kill you. Especially at things like jewelry stores.  They let people think "Hey, I could give this to my -insert family member/friend here-, they'd really like it."  The next thing you know that person is paying something like $50 a month for the next 15 months with a  2% interest rate on it.  It did happen, a friend of mine did it, a watch ($400) and a necklace ($600), they ripped him off.  Plus he couldn't pay a minimum of $50; it was the maximum and minimum.  So to basically put it out in the open, people are stupid and they don't get any smarter in the military, just more heavily armed.  Hopefully you understand a little better about why people aren't allowed to speak out against America and such, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have (to the best of my ability anyway).  Have fun destroying people's pathetic attempts to insult you, I know I always do.

B.

P.S. This joke where you modify people's e-mails has quickly been run it into the ground.  Congratulations!

- Iced Alex